Published 1:23 pm, Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Local law enforcement officers say the rapid growth of the Katy area hasn't caused much of a ripple in crime rates - with one notable exception.

"We certainly saw a peak in crime when they relocated the Katrina evacuees from Louisiana to here," said Harris County Sheriff's deputy Lt. Francis Bradley, interim captain at the county's Clay Road Courthouse annex. "Here we are, 10 years later, still having problems. Having a regular eight-to-five is not what a lot of them do."

Bradley, who has been with the sheriff's office for 32 years, said he believes crime has grown exponentially with the population growth.

"The ratio of crime to the number of residents we have has stayed the same," said Bradley, whose deputies patrol the unincorporated areas of Harris County. "Without looking at recent statistics, I think I can say that.

"Violent crime has gone up, like home invasions, primarily because we have more drugs and gangs. We don't have a lot of shootings or violent crime like that, and when do have it, it's usually related to gangs or drugs."

The growth in the number of construction sites in the unincorporated areas surrounding Katy have brought their own genre of crime, law enforcement officials noted.

"We see an increase in construction site crime," said Waller County Sheriff R. Glenn Smith. "We get theft of construction materials, theft of construction equipment, that sort of thing. But when people move in and start occupying the houses, that drops off and we see no significant change in what the crime rate was before."

"Most of the vandalism at construction sites is probably youth-related," Smith added. "Once people are living in the houses, we just get a few calls from the neighborhoods, like neighbor disputes and things like that."

Crime within the city limits of Katy also seems to remain static despite the physical growth of the city and the population growth.

"We've always done well keeping crime down in the city," said Katy Police Chief William M. "Bill" Hastings, "mainly because we've always been able to work with a city council who's allowed us to have enough personnel to keep crime down. Fifty-six percent of Katy's budget goes to public safety."

According to Hastings, the city's police department has grown from 19 employees in 1984 (when Hastings first joined the department) to 50 employees now.

"We hired 14 officers when the (Katy Mills) mall opened," Hastings explained, "and now, with all the residential areas that are being built, we're about ready to start hiring again."

Hastings said the mall and H-E-B, both off of south Pin Oak, have brought some of the increase in crime to the city.

"We have a lot more shoplifting and BMVs (burglary of motor vehicle) now," said the police chief. "You get a lot of cars together anywhere and you're going to have more car burglaries. It's just the nature of the beast.

"The mall has good security," Hastings said, "and we have patrol cars in the area all the time, but they can't be everywhere at once, and there are people who won't lock their car. Residential crime hasn't really gone up."

Harris County's Bradley said there are also more car burglaries in the county.

"There are more burglaries because people leave their stuff in the car and in sight," Bradley added. "Even on short trips you should lock your car. It doesn't take long to burglarize a car.

"The majority of violent crimes are still related to drugs and gangs," Bradley said, "and you can attribute a lot of that to Katrina people."

"Right now, the city estimates Katy's population to be 17,000," Hastings continued. "It's expected to be 21,000 in 2018, 27,000 in 2020 and 29,000 by 2025. That's only 10 years.

"It's kind of a balancing act to keep both the police department and the fire department where they need to be," the police chief said. "We have the ability to serve the people, and the city's going to grow. We're going to see a lot of growth in the next five years, and so will the fire department."

Prior to joining the police department, Hastings was a paramedic for the Houston Fire Department, he said. He took a year off in 1985 to serve as a paramedic with the Memorial Village fire department, but returned to Katy's police force in 1986.

According to Hastings, there are multiple reasons the crime rate has grown so slowly.

"Our hiring process is very, very rigid," Hastings said. "Consequently, we've got excellent officers. We don't have a great deal of apartments, and the apartment residents pretty much push out the bad element. They don't hesitate to call us if they think someone is doing something wrong."

Hastings also said the city attracts good quality residents.

"This community really lends itself to help police itself. In Katy, people know each other," Hastings said.

Chief Deputy David Marcaurele with the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office praised his officers for what he said has been a downward trend in crime.

"We're pretty proud of the FBCSO out here," Marcaurele said. "We've had a 26 percent decrease in crime overall since 2012, and between 2012 and today there has been a tremendous population growth."

According to Marcaurele, records show a 35 percent decrease in motor vehicle theft, 31 percent decrease in theft and 29 percent decrease in burglary since 2012.

"We haven't had any drastic increases in personnel," the chief deputy said. "I think we have better deployment now. We deploy our officers based on activity.

"Also, the county and the developers work together in planning these new communities."

According to Harris County's Sheriff's Office's Bradley, Katy and the west part of Harris County have long been known for having a relatively low crime rate.

"They used to call this the Hollywood Division," he said, "because there isn't a lot of violent crime out here."